THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 2 
Bo 2 
THE 
Rural New-Yorker 
Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts., New York. 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Home*. 
ELBERT 8. CARMAN, Edltor-ln-Cblef. 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD. Managing Editor 
ERWIN G. FOWLER, Associate Editor. 
JOHN J. DILLON, Business Manager. 
Copyrighted 1H9S. 
Address all business communications and make all orders pay¬ 
able to THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Be sure that the name and address of sender, with name of Post- 
office and State, and what the remittance Is for, appear In every letter. 
Money orders and bank drafts on New York are the safest means of 
transmitting money. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2 , 1893. 
The address of J. Sterling 1 Morton delivered at the 
opening of the Congress of Agriculture, in Chicago, 
October 16, is a stirring, fearless, forcible document. 
It strikes hard at several of the idols which farmers 
have, for years, held close to their hearts. Is it sound 
in those iconoclastic respects ? Is it, in those respects, 
progressive or retrogressive ? Let us hear from our 
friends, especially as to those parts which The R. 
N.-Y. has printed in italics. 
* * 
We shall be pleased to send specimens of The Rural 
New-Yorker to any name or list of names with which 
our friends may favor us. 
* * 
We have in preparation a series of articles on “Farm 
Failures” that we think will teach as helpful lessons 
as some of the great successes we have chronicled in 
times past. The success of a failure is not always 
made clear, yet there is always a chance to get some 
good out of it. # # 
Now is the time to pick out and kick out the robber 
cows. The cow that robs you of your pasture is bad 
enough, but not a circumstance to the one that thieves 
in winter, because the latter steals not only the food 
but the cost of cutting and housing it also. Don’t 
keep a robber cow in your barn over winter. A robber 
cow is one that does not give milk or butter enough to 
pay for her food. We have a reporter out among 
several dairies with a Babcock tester, and his report 
will show how some of these robbers are detected. 
Don’t let a robber fatten on the sweat of your harvest 
work! * * 
Mr. Goodman says on page 797 that half the crop of 
fruit must be spent to pay expenses of marketing 
which includes, we suppose, packing and packages, 
shipping and commission. That this is a low estimate 
may be seen by referring to the figures given on page 
764, relative to the cost of marketing a ton of grapes 
in the Hudson River district. That cost was $32.50 
while the grapes sold at $40. But suppose it takes but 
half the crop to market the whole. That leaves the 
other half to pay for growing the crop. The bigger 
the crop, therefore, the better pay for your labor. Is 
that right? # # 
Since we printed the account of those half-wild 
turkeys at the Rhode Island Experiment Station, we 
have received many letters from those who ask if we 
can sell them birds. The address of the station was 
carefully given, and all the necessary facts, too. Mr. 
Cushman, of the Rhode Island Station, writes that he 
has received a perfect flood of letters from all over the 
country asking for turkeys. That bulletin was a 
capital hit, and has done much to advertise the Rhode 
Island Station. There is a movement on foot to estab¬ 
lish a poultry department under the United States 
Department at Washington. We suggest that the 
Rhode Island poultry department is good enough to 
receive the funds that would be given for such an 
enterprise. Let the Government back Mr. Cushman 
up in the work he has begun. That is our idea of the 
best way to establish a Poultry Bureau. 
* # 
The National Grange has just concluded its annual 
meeting at Syracuse, N. Y. Mr. J. H. Brigham was 
reelected master. The opposition to him was designed 
to test the standing of the Grange on the silver 
question. Mr. Brigham represents bimetalism or 
the increased use of silver at an accepted ratio with 
gold. Against him were these who favored “free 
silver,” and they were beaten. Of interest in connec¬ 
tion with the speech of Secretary Morton, printed on 
another page, was a resolution, adopted by the 
Grange which denounced the Secretary and says that 
President Cleveland “owes it to the farmers of America, 
the largest agricultural nation in the world, that they 
should have a Secretary of Agriculture in sympathy 
with their great interest, and that it is the imperative 
duty of the President to immediately take steps to 
secure a Secretary of Agriculture who shall be in ac¬ 
cord with that interest.” 
* * 
Gov. Flower, in one of his messages, suggested the 
possible use of electricity as a motive power for pro¬ 
pelling freight boats on the Erie canal. An appropria¬ 
tion was made for experimenting with the matter, and 
trial was made last week. A wire running over the 
boats, somewhat like that used in city transportation, 
was used, and it is reported that the boats were run 
successfully over a short course. It is said to be demon¬ 
strated that, with certain improvements, this use of 
electricity is entirely practicable. We are also told 
how, by means of this new departure, freight rates 
from the West can be greatly reduced and the work 
of the canal largely increased. What do the farmers 
of New York have to say to that ? Are they in favor 
of supporting a movement that will only increase the 
competition that now faces their own farm pi oducts ? 
If the waters of the Erie canal could be used to irri¬ 
gate the farms within reach of it instead of being used 
to float freight boats, would New York State farmers 
be better or worse off ? # # 
For hundreds of years after this continent was dis¬ 
covered the vast guano deposits off in South America 
remained untouched. Manure was the last thing 
Europeans thought of importing. Why ? Because 
they did not know its value. When Liebig analyzed 
it and showed its value it became at once immensely 
important as an article of commerce. So much for 
one value that was directly created by science. There 
are to-day vast beds of peat moss as valueless as the 
guano was before Liebig showed its value. It is not 
needed, as in Ireland, for fuel, but that it has other 
uses may readily be seen from the article on another 
page. As an absorbent for liquid manure it is easily 
worth several dollars per ton and it may even take the 
place of stable manure for those farmers who confess 
that they use manure simply because it is the cheapest 
mulch they can find. Indeed, seriously, it is worth 
trying to see if this peat baled in convenient form 
would not make cheaper and better manure when 
mixed with , fertilizers than the product of stables. 
Why should it not ? This idea of feeding the farm 
from ,the nearby swamp is not new—why not feed a 
more distant farm ? # * 
The first New England settlers at Plymouth, Mass , 
were farmers. They were poor folks who came to this 
country expecting to pay those who helped them come 
in fish and furs. Their first export was, however, an 
agricultural product—sassafras root, which was at 
that time considered the greatest medicinal agent in 
use. The Pilgrims sent a good ship-load, but, unfor¬ 
tunately, the French captured the ship, and the ene¬ 
mies of England received the benefit of the sassafras. 
From that day to this our exports have been made up 
largely of agricultural products, raw or manufactured, 
with an increasing proportion in the latter class. 
There is no longer any danger that these cargoes will 
be captured on the high seas, but the Free Trader 
makes the point that the tariff is almost as bad in that 
it narrows and shuts off our foreign markets. Remove 
the tariff, says he, and, of course, foreign countries 
will buy more of our food products We should like 
to ask a few questions right here : Will these foreign 
countries buy more of our goods unless we sell them 
cheaper than we now do ? What is going to become 
of the countries that now supply these food products ? 
Are English and other workmen going to eat more 
under free trade ? Free trade is to cheapen the price 
of what we buy. How is it to increase the price of 
what we sell f '* * 
That is an interesting article on page 796 about the 
use of peat for bedding and absorbent in Germany. 
There are a good many peat swamps scattered over 
this country that might be utilized as Mr. Sarg 
describes. What we commonly call “muck” while not 
so good for this purpose as the peat, could also be 
made useful if thoroughly dried and ground up. Ex¬ 
cept where grain growing is still profitable straw is 
an expensive absorbent. While it contains some 
nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid nobody pretends 
that straw is a cheap source of these substances. It 
is valuable chiefly for its absorptive power and for its 
humus, and well prepared muck or peat will provide 
these things cheaper and better. A visitor from a 
dairy country once saw one of our neighbors hauliDg 
a load of rye straw to market and preached a good 
sermon on the wrong of thus weakening the farm. 
The ton of rye straw contained about 12 pounds of ni¬ 
trogen, five of phosphoric acid and 13 of potash, and sold 
for $20. The farmer can return 75 pounds of nitrate 
of soda and 35 each of superphosphate and muriate 
of potash and have all the actual fertility the straw 
took from his farm. He sells for $20 and buys for 
$4.50, while his home-produced peat or muck gives him 
all the absorptive value of the straw. The idea is that 
the straw has a certain value to packers, liverymen 
and paper makers that farmers cannot utilize. If they 
can obtain cash for this value and use a part of that 
cash to buy the fertility taken away in the straw, 
they are that much ahead. That is business farming 
and you can see how the use of substitutes for straw 
has changed German agriculture. The “business” 
consists in one’s ability to sell the fertility in straw 
for many times the cost of an equal quantity in chem¬ 
icals. To sell the straw and not buy the chemicals, or 
to sell it for so little that there is no profit in the ex¬ 
change is no business at all. 
# * 
BREVITIES. 
Last spring I had old Dobbin on the cultivator, when 
The corn was jest about knee high; he turned a row an’ then 
Gut down his head an’ bit one hill clean off with one big crunch, 
An’ then went marchln' down next row a-chewln' of bis lunch. 
“ All right,” says I, “ you’ve had yer fun, now I’ll jest mark that hill 
An’ show ye how fer that ’ere bite the ear won’t never fill.” 
An’, sure enough, at huskin' time, just one small nubbin grew 
On all that hill that Dobbin gnawed—it seemed jest like he knew 
Jest what I paid when, one cold night, I went to our feed bln 
An’ only fed him two good ears, then throwed that nubbin in. 
“ You had the rest o’ that,” says I, ” old feller. In the spring. 
When you chewed up that hill o' corn—you see how time will bring 
The record of your greediness an’ use It fer a club. 
I tell ye, these here greedy folks are mighty sure to stub 
A toe when good old Father Time shall figure up their deeds, 
An’ they will have to whet their teeth on nubbin corn and weeds!” 
For there ar e folks like Dobbin who expect that they can take 
A good big lunch on dough and then expect a full baked cake. 
But up on Time’s big ledger every debit has been placed, 
An’ fed on shortened rations, they will go their way-disgraced. 
Don’t take a sty for a hrg’s mainstay! 
“ Full of Interest "—the money lender. 
Better to do well than to be well-to-do! 
Let your daughter head the poultry flock! 
Civilities are the sort of tease that please. 
You can be neat without being extravagant! 
Can you earn $1 a day and board at farming ? 
You often need a wide tire on the wheelbarrow. 
The bull Is half the herd and the cull the other half. 
Which is the cross grain—the one that makes a rye face ? 
We want your figures on that apple orchard value question. 
Heaven help the man who has forgotten how to enjoy himself. 
WE repeat that the South Down sheep would help the South up. 
Many a little farm must be well tiled before It can be well tilled. 
The hydraulic breed of ram Is often the best cure for a thirsty ewe. 
No reason why a farm with a peat swamp on It should ever peter 
out. 
You cannot abstract the value of liquid manure through a concrete 
floor. 
‘Things are not what they seem” when we pick out our butter 
cows by cream. 
That scheme of using the disc harrow before the plow on a clover 
stubble Is not bad. 
Look out for the folks who make the outer man a spouter and the 
Inner man a sinner. 
Straining makes things clearer—all but your eyes? They are 
made “nearer” by It. 
W ill you put the butter fat In the bank or In your stomach ? Read 
Mr. Grundy's article, page 794. 
IT Is estimated that the stomach of a large ox will hold 266 quarts. 
Think of running that on half fare! 
Better turn a crippled horse Into food for ferrets than Into food 
for reflection on the cruelty of man. 
Which gives you more work In ( a year—the horse that needs the 
whip or the one that needs a tight rein? 
Have you noticed that some people delight In running themselves 
down, but don’t want you to take a hand in It? 
Dr. Thornton, page 798, ought to have had scabby potatoes if the 
corrosive sublimate can leave any scab In the seed. 
Who wants to be “happy as a clam ? ” In order to be happy amid 
Its surroundings, a clam must lose at least four senses. 
Did you ever, In your most successful hour, grow a fruit that re¬ 
sembled the colored pictures In the nurseryman's catalogue ? 
A safe In a lonely country home Is a straight invitation to robbers 
because it advertises the fact that you have valuables on hand. 
Our friend on page 774, says that a heavy crop of beans can be har¬ 
vested In less time and cheaper than a light one. Just think what 
that means. 
The man who helps himself to the best piece of pie and the best cut 
of meat because he handles the knife, shows himself In favor of pro¬ 
tected monopoly. 
What Is there wrong about Mr. Wygant’s analogy of the effect of 
feeding corn meal and bran for butter and using fertilizers or stable 
manure on peaches? 
Wanted— one single Instance where a “ maintenance ration ’’—one 
simply to maintain life—paid. We know that thousands of such rations 
are fed— show one that pays. 
That Is an Idea of Mr. Crawford—to send the Carman potato to a 
friend in Florida and have It planted there at once—In time to raise a 
crop of tubers for your late planting. 
Be this your motto as through life you go: “Boll down your I and 
give the you a show!” Sing not your own self praise, but wait fo 
time to sing It for you In a strain sublime. 
A friend writes us about a young man who made more last winter 
from 29 hens than his father did from eight cows! What does that 
mean—first-class hens and boy or second-class man and cows? 
A Kentucky friend sends us this recipe as the "best use for apple 
pomace": “Pack In tight barrels with bran and a little salt. Put In 
layers—10 Inches of pomace, five of bran and so on—pack solid!” We 
can believe It. It ought to be good. 
Mr. F. B. Van Oknam writes: “My experience with wood ashes on 
potatoes has invariably been that they caused scab, and I never could 
see any Increase of yield.” What a test for the corrosive sublimate 
solution It would be to soak scabby seed and then put w, od ashes In 
the hill. 
While the Germans do not take so kindly to our maize as human 
food as we could wish, the authorities have Issued instructions to use 
this grain mixed with others for horse feed. Very well, let the Ger¬ 
mans learn the true value of maize through their horses. Horse 
sense, however, would put It on their own tables first. 
